Mystery of Spleraina
by Spleriia Emperor Splerii
Summary: Under pressure, a group of renown ZPD Officers sets out to solve the mystery case within the nation that houses a very ancient dynasty. Rated M for other things that matters.
1. Investigation in Yad' Dili' Lidi Harbor

_It all began when Skye Walker received a strange letter from Chief of State Kharto Manlovo of the State of Spleraina, inviting her to enter their annual zither contest._

 _Somehow, for a reason she couldn't pinpoint. The way he wrote kept her reminding of that fateful encounter she experienced in Spleraina long ago along with her rabbit partner. She decided to discuss the matter along with Judy Hopps, Nick Wilde, and Jack Savage._

 _They were as intrigued as Skye was. Since the contest was such a good opportunity for her as a new Zootopian competing, they decided that they should go and they would also accompany her to Spleraina to investigate and possibly find out more about the despotic plans of the Spleraina Dynasty - A military junta-controlled constitutional monarchy led by Splerai Splero._

 _As soon as they disembarked in Yad' Dili' Lidi, a mysterious male chimpanzee lunged at Jack, handed him a message vanished shortly after._

 _Incredibly, Both Nick and Judy realized that the message was signed by Chimpan Kerano, the very same regent who had been serving with the dynasty's sole Emperor, Splero Kerano. He was asking us to meet him in a secret hideout near the harbor._

 _The next dawn, on the front page of a local newspaper, all of them were shocked when they saw the picture of their known regent, who had been found dead in the Yad' Dili' Lidi Harbor._

 _While Skye prepared for her concert elsewhere, Nick went out to investigate for the mysterious hideout._

* * *

The skies above were filled with cumulonimbus clouds that started to thunder from a distance. From a dark alleyway, red fox appeared.

"Damn this bad weather!"

Nick fixed his loose beret.

"I should have brought a rainproof umbrella or raincoat. Despite of that, I have finally reached the harbor."

The fox tried to enter one of the nearby buildings by opening its main doors but it's locked. He then checked his wristwatch. The time reads at 11:55 PM.

"It's late. Since the buildings were locked, how could I get there?"

He could then hear someone muttering elsewhere. Nick followed the noise and when he took the stairs that leads to a canal junction, he saw a male human dressed in rugged clothes by a red and white asbestos tent. The man saw him and he sneered.

"Ah! Go home, fox!"

Nick raised a paw on him.

"Just though I join you for a cup of tea if you don't mind."

The man sneered even further and he pulled out a rusted knife violently.

"Don't you dare intrude my space, fox!"

Nick then saw a bottle filled with high-grade spirits. With a sly plan, he took it away and steps back.

"Well, what do we have here? High-grade spirits. The red fox would like to take a slurp."

The male human then recoiled with a burst of frustration.

"Fine! I'll hand you my space!"

The fox handed the bottle back to the man and the disgruntled one simply snatched it from his paw before he went further out. As he investigated, all what he could see was just a partially closed water canal that leads to a warehouse. Nick looked for something that would take him through the partially obstructed water canal and he saw a wooden board that was just resting near to the tent. He took it and went under the canal but as he does, the rusted portcullis collapsed and seals the water canal. Once inside, he jumped towards the dry floor of the dark warehouse.

"Ugh. Too dark for me in here."

The red fox grabbed a small flashlight and as he switched it on, large crates and overhanging cranes catches his attention. Nick could also saw a few doors but the path was blocked. He then went to a control panel that controls the warehouse cranes and he stretches his paws out.

"Time for me to do some body work."

The sly fox then switched the cranes on and started in clearing the crates away from the path that leads to the locked doors. Despite the complexity of the machines and the unbearable humidity of the warehouse, Nick managed to pave the way to the exit. As he approached the doors, he saw a square box that was emitting a strange glow.

"What the? This box is glowing."

With a curious mind, Nick opened it and he saw a blue frame clock, a crowbar, a monkey wrench and a piece of paper. The latter took the contents and he reads the note.

* * *

 _Dear Visitor,_

 _Please meet me at the secret hideout under the nearby harbor. My life was in dire straits so please hurry._

 _Signed Regent Chimpan_

* * *

Just as he finished reading, a radio crackles to life.

"Nick, come in. Over."

The red fox took the call.

"This is Nick Wilde. Go ahead."

A few seconds passed before a reply was received.

"Nick, this is Jack Savage calling. How's the skinny?"

"It's quite interesting, Jack. I been in the harbor for a long moment now and I'm starting to gather a lot of clues here."

"Ok, slick. I'll remind Judy about it as we speak. Jack, out."

When the radio call ends, Nick approached the locked doors and as he removed the wooden plank that blocks the doorway, the sly investigator finally went outside of the old warehouse.

"Now where is that secret hideout that regent was talking about, eh?"

When he turned his head to the left, he saw a metal manhole that has engraving on it. Nick tried to open it with his bare paws but it was stuck so he resorted to use the crowbar instead. Once he opened it, he went down the ladder and arrived at a underground canal. With a flashlight on his paw, he could literally saw a ladder on the opposite side but the path to it was flooded with water. Nick let out a frustrated sigh.

"Not this again."

He tried to look for something to drain the flooded water away and with lucky, Nick found a drainage valve on the other side of the pathway. Since the canal was too wide to be jumped over, the sly fox grabbed the ladder and he detached it so that he could use it as a makeshift bridge. When he crossed it, the latter tried to turn the valve but it was rusted shut.

"Ugh. No wonder these human citizen didn't any maintenance here every now and then."

After using the monkey wrench to loosen the valve, Nick turned the wheel again and soon, the flooded water finally drained. The red fox let out a cheer.

"Yes! I done it."

With that, he dashed towards the opposite ladder.

...

After climbing the ladder, Nick saw a small chamber filled with a few lit candles, a small wooden table, a metal safe, a hanging chain and a vintage VCR machine. The red fox approached towards the old cipher machine.

"A radio. I wonder if this thing could still work?"

Investigating the room even further, he could also saw codes and numbers that were painted on the walls. Taking a rusted hook from the table, he hooked both the rusted hook and the blue frame clock on the hanging chain. As he places a medium-sized candle behind it, the strange glow lighted the designated codes and numbers on the walls.

"Delta, Zulu, 19 and 60, eh? What a combination."

With the code memorized, he applied it on the metal safe. Surprisingly, it did opened to it and as he searched, Nick found a piece of paper and a VCR tape. On the piece of paper, it reads...

* * *

 _Spleraina leaving port. - Stop -_

 _Dock #26 At morning. - Stop -_

 _Extremely ancient relic. - Stop -_

 _Need bodyguard. - Stop -_

 _Signed Splerai Splero._

* * *

The small message makes Nick curious than ever.

"Man, this is heavy."

With the VCR tape on his paw, he places it on the VCR. As the machine plays, Chimpan's voices started.

"Dear devoted one. Since you're listening to this, I'm most likely dead and I have failed to prevent the nationalists from gathering the ancient relics that they needed for their vile and damaging purpose. The future of Spleraina is now on your hands and to those of your companions. You must find the relics before they do at any costs. Good luck and be careful. The nationalists' anti-monarchical allies will stop at nothing to acquire these artifacts."

As the message ended, Nick grabbed the radio and contacted straight away.

"Jack, this is Nick. We have stumbled into something colossal here as we speak."


	2. Skye's Discovery

_For Skye's performance, she selected the Nguyen Dynasty's Dang Dan Cung national anthem as recommended for her new zither that she borrowed from a friend of Kharto. As the vixen played the zither, the crowd of humans and furries was enraptured._

 _It was a glorious moment and Skye was so eager to share this very triumph with Jack and Judy, who supported her so well during her free times in the ZPD._

 _The crowd in the stage was so vast that Skye was actually feeling a bit pressured throughout the whole performance. The stress was so unbearable that it also causes her mind to go a bit 'off-course' for some unknown reason._

 _Her mental strains were so much that Skye fainted in the middle of a conversation with Chief of State Kharto, who had invited me to enter the contest, and who had just asked me to have dinner at his residence the other day._

 _Jack and Judy had to carry Skye to the dressing room to rest for a while. It is there that the vixen was suspecting something a bit 'paranormal'._

* * *

Skye regained consciousness and she was reclining on a chair inside the dim dressing room. The lonely vixen was the only occupant of the room as well.

"What the? I feel fainted and then...nothing else."

Skye turned her back and she saw a light switch. With a flick on the switch, the light bulb didn't work.

"No electricity, eh?"

After letting out a sigh, she went to the small drawer to get her satchel. When she was about to keep her cosmetics away, a piece of paper gathered her attention.

"A note, huh? I didn't have this thing on my satchel way earlier on."

As she opened it, the note reads...

* * *

 _Skye,_

 _Me and Judy were heading outside to buy something for you. In the meanwhile, just wait us there and you'll be fine._

 _Your partner - Jack Savage_

 _PS: Before we left, we noticed something odd in the stage up ahead. Although this might be unnecessary, you should better check it out or something._

* * *

A grin then pasted on her face.

"Something odd, huh? Interesting."

Since the rooms were dim, Skye grabbed hold a lighter and a few candlesticks. Before she could exit out the room, the vixen saw a portrait of Splerai Splero. While gazing on it, Skye started to have a incapacitating headache. The pain was so intense that she suffered a blackout. Inside her mind, a mental picture of a man placing a pair of gloves inside a wooden box appeared.

As the blackout ended, Skye's vision returned and the vixen was bewildered to what she saw in her 'psychic-like' vision.

"I don't know anything about that."

After she shook her head, Skye went out the dressing room and just above her was a picture of Chief of State Kharto sitting on a chair with a zither on his lap. Moving on, she went to the same empty stage where she performed her zither musical way earlier on the night. The empty spaces was so eerie for Skye but what makes her a bit more pressured is a bucket of water. There is some droplets of blood that fell on it too.

"What the? That looks like blood."

With a curious yet suspicious mental dilemma, she approached the bucket and she extends out a paw. A drop of blood drips on her white paw and when Skye looked up, she screamed and quickly steps back as a dead male human security guard fell into the bucket with a big crash. The sight horrified her but she picked up a small decorated brass key that bounces off the wooden flooring anyway.

"Even though you're dead, I hope I could keep this for the time being then."

As soon as she got the key, the vixen retraced her steps back to the dressing room and she saw a locked door that has a pasted board that reads 'Maintenance Room'. When the door was unlocked and opened, a circuit breaker's lever was being set to the 'Off' position.

"Ah! The circuit breaker's been jumped."

Skye set the lever to the 'On' position but as she do, the lights went on and a strange noise was being emitted from the stage. Bolstered by the sound, the vixen went out to investigate. When she arrived, the latter noticed that a metal manhole was being swing open automatically.

"That's odd. I didn't notice that there was a secret area in there."

With a curious look, she checked the dark ladder. While holding a few candlesticks, she lit it all with lighter and after that, Skye went down the ladder. Upon arriving at the foot of the ladder, she saw a small chamber that has a locked safe-like door on it.

"From the look of these walls, this secret chamber wasn't been used a few long decades. No wonder the performers even knew this spot as well."

She then approached the door. Skye wanted to check if there's something else in there but first, she might need to crack the code on the lock to do so.

"Ugh. I hate safes."

Using only her bare ears, she listened on the mechanism very carefully as she tried to crack the door's safe combination. With luck, she managed to unlocked it and when the door was opened, a wooden box was there. Skye was surprised to see it.

"The box. I saw it in my mind."

She pulled the box away from the open chamber. When she removed the hinges and opened the box, a pair of khaki gloves were in it. The discovery concluded when Skye gasped to the sight of it.

"The vision really is true!"


End file.
